Government Finalised FITs
Government Announcement on 1st February 2010:
The Government has issued the Feed in Tariffs for renewable generation available for installations from April 2010. They are a welcome increase in some areas, particularly PV technology but they have reduced the export tariff from 5p/kwh to 3p/kwh. View the table of FIT price and calculations page for more detailed figures.
Overall this announcement may be good news for renewable energy manufacturers and installers. The slightly increased rate of return may encourage more householders to install this technology as it may be seen as a good rate compared to current savings rates. At present though the capital value of the building to which the renewable technology is attached does not seem to reflect the extra investment so it must be seen as a very long term investment. The tariffs are to be in place for 25 years for PV technology and 20 years for wind turbines. Present experience indicates that PV cells have potentially a life of up to 40 years but many small scale wind turbines may have considerably less life expectancy than 20 years. Furthermore, it is important to note that wind turbines require ongoing maintenance, and these costs also need to be considered.
The new tariffs may bring a new opportunity to contractors, especially those who can demonstrate a knowledge and expertise in the supply and installation of renwable energy sources. The main technologies for which there may be a demand are the wind and PV systems. Hydro and Anaerobic Digestion (AD) are still quite specialist. The rate of return for AD plants is still seen as insufficient to stimulate a large demand. Currently one of the problems with AD plants built on an economic scale is that there is insufficient food waste local to the plant to provide sufficient fuel. On the continent especially Germany there are many very small scale plants which are reliant on the supplemented tariff structure.
Please note; Since February this year (2010), there are no longer any Governments Low Carbon Buildings Program grants left for electricity microgeneration for either domestic or commercial build, however heating only micro renewable generating applications can be made throughout 2010, or until funds last.
you must be Microgeneration Certification Scheme Certified to be eligible for FITs and grants. Visit Elecsa website for more details on this.
This web page provides general FIT information, but developments may overtake some of the information provided. As such, this is not intended, and should not be used, as the basis for any commercial plans or decisions.